Machine fob



a space between (see Fig. l).

BAXTER D. WHITNEY, OF VVINCI-IENDON,

M`ASSAOH'USETTS. v

MACHINE FOR SMOOTI-IING PLANED WOODEN SURFACES.

Specification of" Letters Patent No. 17,992, dated August 11, 1857.

To all 4whom z'tmag/ concern: Y

Be it known that I, BAXTER D. WHITNEY, of Winchendon, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Machine for Smoothing Surfaces of Wood, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan. Fig. 2 a side elevation. Fig. 3 an end view. Fig. 4 a longitudinal vertical section on the line m, m, of Fig. l. Fig. 5 a section on the line g/ y of Fig. l, showing details to be referred to. Fig. 6 a view of the under side of the carriage.

The object of my present invention is to obtain a machine that will be capable of smoothing the surfaces of boards and similar stuff, whether such stuff has been previously reduced to a uniform thickness and perfectly plane surface or not; and this I accomplish by allowing the block which carries the scraper or smoothing knife to have a small amount of vibration to accommodate to any inequalities in the surface to be smoothed, while the stuff rests on a rigid plane bed or carriage.

This machine will be found particularly well adapted to smooth the surfaces of thin stuff such as is used for the hoop or sides of light wooden boxes (cheese boxes &c.) and veneered stuff.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the drawings A is the cast iron frame or bed of the machine, this consists of a pedestal l and two side pieces 2 and 3 with In each of these pieces l and 2 near their' top is a groove a Fig. 4 in which slides a plane rigid carriage B to the under side of which is attached the rack bar b that engages with a pinion C on a shaft D. This shaft passes through slots in the two sides of the frame A and has its bearings at one end in a supportvE attached to the outside of the part 2 of the frame A. This support is set 0E as shown in Fig. 1 to accommodate the driving pulley F on the shaft D; the other end of the shaf D is carried by a hand lever Gr pivoted at c to the outside of the part 3 of the frame A. By this arrangement when the lever G is in the position shown in Fig. 2 the pinionmC 1s engaged with the rack b and as the pulley F is revolved in the direction of its arrow Fig. 1 the carriage B is caused to move in the direction of its arrow until the pinion and rack are thrown out of gear, which is done in the following manner: A lever I-I is pivoted at cl to the' frame A itvibrates in a plane parallel to :the side thereof, and is held up by a spring I against a pin e projecting from the face of the lever G. When the lever G is in the position shown in Fig. 2 the pin e rests on a shoulder f on the lever I-I and thus the pinion and rack are held in gear. A dog K is attached to the upper side of the carriage B near its rear end and projects over the side of the frame, so that as the carriage is moved along by the revolution ofthe pinion C the dog K strikes against the upper end of the lever I-I and ltrips it from under the pin e, this allows the lever G to drop by its weight and the weight of the shaft D and the pinion C is thrown out of contact with the rack b and the carriage B is free to be drawn back by a weight attached to a cord running over a pulley L on the'end of the frame A. Y

The stuff to be operated upon is clamped to the carriage B in the following manner: The shank of the clamp M passes through a hole in the carriage B near its front end and is secured by a nut and screw to a lever N providedv at vl to standards projecting down from the under side of the carriage; an arm O is attached to the lever N and hangs down from it in such a position that as thevcarriage is drawn back by the weight into the position shown in Fig. 4 the arm O shall strike against a-stop P (seen dotted in Fig. l) attached to the inside of the frame A by screws g passing through the side 3 of the frame; this causes the clamp M to be raised against the resistance of the spring Q which is secured to the under side of the carriage and laps over the end of the longer arm of the lever N as shown in Fig. 6 and the piece of stuff is released from the clamp lM.

To enable the operator to raise the clamp M at pleasure for the purpose of inserting a piece of stuff I have adopted the following device. A spring stop R (Figs. 5 and 6) is attached at one end at 7L to the underside of the carriage B; a hand lever S with a short arm 7c bent up at right angles is pivoted at Z to the inner face of side 2 of the frame A, as the carriage is drawn back by the weight, the shoulder m of the spring R passes over the end of the -arm c, now by pressing down on the hand lever S the carriage is forced back a little farther and the pressure of the arm O against the stop P raises the clamp M as before explained.

The block U which carries the smoothing knife or scraper n is pivoted at 0 in the middle of its length to a link p attached to a lever V, the block U has a hole near each end, up through which pass loosely the pins or round standards 1 rising from each side of the top of the frame A, this allows the block U to be raised and lowered vertically by the lever V at the same time that it has a slight vibration on the pivot 0 that it may accommodate itself to any variation in thickness of the sides of the stuftn operated upon.

The scraper n is formed as shown in section in Fig. 4; with the edge turned forward against the direct-ion in which the carriage B travels when the scraper is operating, and acts in a manner similar to the well known tool of the cabinet maker. The lever V is pivoted at g (F ig. 3) to a standard l/Vrising from the top of the frame A and is drawn down by a spring X attached to the opposite side of the top of the frame, this keeps the scraper n in contact with the surface of the stuff while it is being drawn under it. Toward the other end of the lever V is pivoted at s a rod Y which is connected at t by a screw and slot to the hand Vlever Gr.` Thus as the lever G is dropped Vby tripping the lever H, the lever V is vibrated by the rod Y against ,the resistance of the spring X and the block U is raised out of contact with the piece of stuff on the carriage.

If the weight of the lever G and shaft D are not found sufHcient a spring may be attached to the outer end of the lever Gr and to the frame A.

The nut and screw on the shank of the clamp M allows of its adjustment for thicker or thinner stuff.

T'he machine is Operated in the following manner: The shaft D is driven by the drum F in the direction of the arrow, the pinion C being disengaged from the rack bar 2),' the carriage being in the position shown in the drawings, the hand lever S is depressed, this as explained raises the clamp M the piece of stuff to be smoothed is laid on the carriage with one end under the clamp, which holds it when the lever S is relieved. The lever Gr is now raised into the position shown in Fig. 2 where it is supported by the lever H this engages the pinion C with the rack I) and the carriage B is drawn along under the scraper n the lifting of the lever G having allowed the spring X to draw down the lever V and bring the block U down onto the stuff. I may here mention that the slot at t in the end of the rod Y allows a slight play to the lever V that the block U may accommodate itself to the inequalities of the surface of the stuff operated on. The carriage B is moved forward by the pinion C until the dog K attached to it comes in Contact with the lever H when this lever is tripped from under the lever Gr which is allowed to drop, and the pinion C falls out of gear with the rack when the carriage is free to be drawn back by the weight attached to the cord over the pulley L into thel position shown in Fig. 4L when the arm O strikes against the stop P which raises the clamp M against the resistance of the spring Q, and releases the piece of stuff.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The scraper n pivoted and operating in the manner substantially as described in combination with a mechanism for the purpose of carrying the wood forward in contact with the scraper.

BAXTER D. WHITNEY.

Witnesses:

THos. R. RoAoH, P. E. TESCHEMACHER. 

